OFAC Regulations Governing Trade with Iran

Washington, D.C. - Trade between the United States and
Iran is subject to certain restrictions under U.S. law that even make it
difficult for goods and services relating to humanitarian assistance to be
exported to Iran. U.S. economic and trade sanctions on Iran are administered
and enforced by the United States Treasury Department's
Office of Foreign Assets
Control (OFAC), and penalties for violating the OFAC Regulations, even for
humanitarian activities, is steep. Accordingly, given the continuing strong
ties between many in the Iranian Diaspora and Iran, it is important that Iranian
Americans be fully aware of
OFAC Regulations and legal restrictions it imposes
on trade with Iran.

In 2008, the Iranian American Bar Association (IABA) published a Working Group
Document on the OFAC Regulations governing humanitarian assistance to Iran.
This document focused on the transactions regulations enforced by OFAC, and
provided a general discussion on when specific licenses from the U.S. government
are needed to export goods, services, or technologies to Iran for humanitarian
purposes and how licenses can be obtained. IABA's Guide to OFAC Regulations
provides concise and basic guideline in very simplified language, and as such
should not be considered as legal advice. Accordingly, the IABA urges everybody
to discuss any related issues that may pertain to them with qualified counsel.